I dare you to watch the last three Kings games and claim this is all because of Cousins.

Westphal is a terrible coach that completely lost his team. They currently have assisted on 41% of their baskets, which would be a modern record of suck, have more TOs than assists and Reke is regressing.

e0y2e3 wrote:I dare you to watch the last three Kings games and claim this is all because of Cousins.

Westphal is a terrible coach that completely lost his team. They currently have assisted on 41% of their baskets, which would be a modern record of suck, have more TOs than assists and Reke is regressing.

Guy needed fired before the year and deserves this.

No argument from me.

But certainly the timing is a bit, um, coincidental. He certainly did not become shitty yesterday.

And he did really, really, really hang himself with this Cousins situation. The way he acted like a jilted child because Cousins privately approached him about his system sucking is insanity. A bad coach cannot wage war with a player and lose his team entirely at the same time. Just can't.

And he did really, really, really hang himself with this Cousins situation. The way he acted like a jilted child because Cousins privately approached him about his system sucking is insanity. A bad coach cannot wage war with a player and lose his team entirely at the same time. Just can't.

But a bad coach certainly will lose his team by waging war with his best (second if Reke is Reke) player.

Berger was on local hack radio and claims a bigger reason than (thanks Bob Harris!) Westphal is the fact they built that roster without a veteran voice. Westphal added fuel to the fire, but Cousins needs to be told to stfu by his peers. New coach without the baggage of "losing the team" is still climbing uphill.

"When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience leaves with money and the man with money leaves with experience."

Hayes is there for that reason (he called a players only meeting for 3:30 today) and if you watch the Kings play this year Hayes has told Cousins on the court to keep his head. It has worked too as he hasn't been yelling at officials or acting like an ass on the court. Supposedly Hayes has made Cousins his project.

So fuck that take, Berger is being lazy as hell here and picking low hanging fruit.

Again, Cousins privately went to Westbrook (after watching Hawes get suspended for calling him out to the press), was the third player to bitch about the offense (HAYES DID IT IN PUBLIC) and got suspended for it. And the offense was record setting terrible.

Cousins quietly took Westphal aside and said, "Hey coach, just thought I saw something we could exploit."

LMAO

Sample size. 3 weeks of Chuck Hayes > All other time??? (including run-in's with many not named Westphal)

Sure Westphal's "tough guy" act was stupid and the exact wrong way to handle the situation, and he is now fired. Cousins still has the potential to "grow up" and fulfill that awesome talent and potential, but at this time to label him anything other then immature, fat, and an asshole is being generous.

Berger's analysis was lazy but it is also true. That team is a collection of very young high potential players without any leadership and Cousins needs to start acting like a pro. Westphal was doing enough to get himself fired and Cousins only comes off as another spoiled bitch.

"When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience leaves with money and the man with money leaves with experience."

How many incidents did he have in college or did that forearm shiver in the Lousiville game never happen? I was a MASSIVE Cousins honk, as I am with just about any big man with a decent skill set and legit size, but the fact is his attitude and conditioning were major red flags at draft time. IMO talent wise he was the 2 or 3 of that draft, but went 5 because of those concerns. This has all carried over to the pros. Insane talent and production (I'm not debating those items) 18 and 18 in that forearm shiver game, the talent is without question.

I'm just not sure he can fully utilize that talent EVER due to his total lack of maturity and class. Great he is showing improvement in the 3 weeks of the 2011-2012 season versus High School, 1 year of college, and 1 year of being a pro. I'm being more then reasonable in admitting Westphal shared blame. Hopefully, for our draft pick to be worth anything, he does grow up. Now that Westphal is gone so are his excuses.

Just very skeptical that he changes his personality enough to not have these problems. Good luck Keith Smart.

BTW: I've watched them several times this year (course one was the suspension game), entertaining as hell, talented as hell at several positions, but pull your hair out frusturating just as much. Hey maybe Keith Smart in job number 3(?) makes it his charm.

"When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience leaves with money and the man with money leaves with experience."

I still don't understand how a vet getting Cousins to not act like an ass on the court is ignored.

There is not enough data to draw any conclusions on Cousins and his improvement this year is undeniable. That he bitched about Westphal's offense like half of the team is far from a red flag (and he wasn't exactly a huge asshole last year or in college).

Again you put SOOOOOOO much stock in Chuck Hayes and 3 weeks against a much larger sample size. It isn't ignored, it just isn't enough/just a start. Guys like Cousins are capable of 3 week, hell even 3 month stints of good behavior only to have a 3 minute snap and blow it all up.

WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski Kings will keep changing coaches until someone reaches DeMarcus Cousins, or they give up on him. Westphal won't be last to go down there.6 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

Smart is probably toast, but is only an interm anyway. Who is out there that can come to the Kings? My view isn't unreasonable.

"When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience leaves with money and the man with money leaves with experience."

I keep bringing up Hayes because it runs directly counter to Berger's lazy bullshit.

It's a fact that Cousin's rep is overblown from high school, all I am saying is that the guy is killing himself on the court this year, has been a great teammate and we owe him shutting the fuck up and watching, not parading around and yelling "HE KILLED WESTPHAL" when the entire team bitched about that shit system.

If he blows up he blows up, but he hasn't thus far and all you keep doing is biting on the bullshit media narrative that will generate site hits.

Cousins story is nowhere near done and beyond his shooting % (which is largely attributable to luck) he is trying his ass off out there.

And Smart isn't an interim coach, that fucked up Org already gave him a two year extension.

Stop writing a narrative without the data to back it up. I put stock in three weeks and you did how he acted in high school, both are non-definitive and the story needs to play itself out.

Just don't come here and post bullshit from the media about a vet being need to council him WHEN THAT GUY IS THERE AND WAS BROUGHT IN FOR THAT PURPOSE.

e0y2e3 wrote:Stop writing a narrative without the data to back it up. I put stock in three weeks and you did how he acted in high school, both are non-definitive and the story needs to play itself out.

Just don't come here and post bullshit from the media about a vet being need to council him WHEN THAT GUY IS THERE AND WAS BROUGHT IN FOR THAT PURPOSE.

It's hilarious cuz almost all your diatribes are narrative. 3 weeks? You brought up his high school "rep" so you could argue with yourself and rant with caps, your constant tactic. Who needs to look that far back? I have data points of college, the draft "rep", his first year as a pro, this year. Despite your need to color the misunderstood big fella as a 3 week church mouse, his own teammates didn't exactly jump to his defense over the "satan" coach. Nor did they deny his yelling "trade me".

Chuck fucking Hayes give me a break. My original post was about as balanced and nuanced as it gets. They didn't build that team with a veteran voice, Cousins and Westphal two immature asshats developed a poisonous relationship, and it has blown up time and again.

Maybe its all just tribal and I don't understand the plight of angry black athlete that pours it all out on the court and is misunderstood by the white establishment and Bull Westphal.

"When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience leaves with money and the man with money leaves with experience."

Cousins has improved his rep and attitude every year, dating back to when he was 16. I'm simply saying 1) they signed a vet to be his personal role-model, so talking about not having one is fucking stupid and 2) the media on the whole is being insanely lazy today and just writing stupid simple fan click inspiring bullshit.

The Cousins story is far from written, waiting to see what happens is all we can do at this point instead of making judgements where him showing a great attitude on the court this year (and for the most part last year) are just ignored because Westphal is a fuck.

I'm not telling you the guy is a saint, but STFU and wait and see instead of being a bitch that bends over and regurgitates lazy media shit.

BTW: Cousins was voted a team captain, his teammates must not respect him. But hey, when a private complaint got him suspended I am sure they were eager to jump to his defense and fall into the same fate.

Just stop and wait instead of writing bullshit. I'm glad you can cite all of five example of him fucking up and cling to a draft rep that was tied to high school more than anything, but whatever.

We all need to escape this lazy narrative and just chill on the kid. Let him tell his own story, again this isn't fucking Dre Blatche we are talking about.

Hayes being on the team for 3 weeks hardly dismisses, "they built that team without a veteran voice." Gordan Ramsay might not be able to save that spoiled mess in SacTown. Sad because the have some great ingredients.

And anyway I mentioned in many of my posts that he COULD turn it around since his individual talent and potential isn't going to vanish. So continue.

"When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience leaves with money and the man with money leaves with experience."

A couple of chapters with a real trend showing toward maturing..... one that you ignore.

And again, it's not spoiled kids that are the problem in Sac. It's the offense, the fact that the roster has too many players that need the ball in their hands, the fact that they are the youngest team in the NBA, etc.

By ALL accounts Hayes has been incredible in the locker room and is widely considered one of the best vet presences in the league.

Cousins just fouled out BTW and didn't say a word, just walked away.

You are buying into the lazy media bullshit. Only chance this team has to win is to go Phoenix/GS and run.... run.... run. They need to out athlete the other teams.

e0y2e3 wrote:BTW: bitching about how I post is about as weak and cunt like as it gets and shows a clear dodging of the points I am making so you can yell "BUT HIS REP AND HE CLOTHELINED THAT GUY ONCE!!!"

It's impossible to argue with you when you attack the arguements you put in my mouth.

Dare me to live with Cousins.

"When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience leaves with money and the man with money leaves with experience."

Well if they can get on a roll, and this would seem like a win that they can build on, he will be able to display a winning attitude. Nothing stopping him from being an absolute beast at the basket or on the boards.

I've shot my wad, I'll sit back and enjoy his play as long as it lasts.

"When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience leaves with money and the man with money leaves with experience."

Oh and saw that 2 year deal they gave Smart. Maloof asked about it and didn't know. Found it odd because Maloof (whichever one) was alluding to the details of the Westphal decision and it seemed he was involved. Geez.

"When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with experience leaves with money and the man with money leaves with experience."